Is it okay for my 8 year old to be home after school?

Hi all. I’m the single mom of an 8 year old daughter. This summer, my job had us go back to the office. While at work all day, I had my daughter be watched by my grandmother (her great-grandmother) and it didn’t quite go as I hoped. Previous summers, my mother would watch my daughter but she’s since moved 5 hours away. Almost everyday this summer, my daughter came home from my grandmother’s house feeling extremely sad. She eventually told me that she was being verbally mistreated by her great-grandma. She’d comment on my daughter’s weight, police what she ate, and make her feel very uncomfortable. I had bought my daughter snacks to be kept at my grandmother’s house. Things like goldfish, beef jerkey, dried mango, hummus & pretzel cups, etc. My grandmother took it upon herself to buy “healthier” snacks that were things like meal replacement shakes, 100 calorie bars, etc. My daughter’s weight has never been brought up at a doctor visit and regardless of it was, it’s entirely inappropriate and I cannot let my daughter be made to feel self conscious about her weight at such a young age.My dilemma is this: With school starting soon, I was hoping to have my great-grandmother watch my daughter after she gets out of school before I get off work. With this happening, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of my daughter to be there. We live only 2 & a half blocks from her school and I want to offer her the choice of walking home from school and being home alone for ~2 hours. I work less than 10 minutes away and am always able to come home in case of an emergency, but I don’t want to offer it if she’s too young. She’ll be 9 in October and is overall well behaved, would this be a problem? I have very few options and just want to do what’s in my daughter’s best interest. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2W9O7yG